What is it about islands
that evokes in us such loyalty
such love?
is it the journeys
that we undertake
to reach them
or the sense we have
that each of us
(sorry John Dunne)
is in some way
unto himself/herself
an island
so that we find in them
a living intimation
a reflection of our inner life
our souls
or is it
as I like to think
because they lie
off at a distance
that they gift us time apart
from the world's hurly-burly
take us back
to when and where our lives
were less frenetic
less fraught with the day's
endless exigencies
or perhaps it's none of these
but just the beauty
we cannot fail to find
when land is ringed
by water on all sides
whether a quiet lake
or the unresting ocean